School of Music

HINSHAW, Susan

Vocal Performance

For over 30 years Susan Hinshaw has been a professional opera performer and classical singer with engagements singing leading roles in Europe, the United States, South America and Australia. Frequently described as a "singing actress," her performances are characterized by sensitivity, dramatic intensity and passion.

Susan Hinshaw's professional operatic debut was as Violetta in La Traviata in Lucerne, Switzerland, where she continued to perform many other leading roles. The Zuricher Nachrichten described her performances as "Unquestionably a soprano of the highest order," and the Luzerner Neuest Nachrichten described her as a "strong yet delicate stage presence…not a prima donna, but a human being, with a wonderful blend of singing and acting."

Composer Gian Carlo Menotti chose Miss Hinshaw as his Magda Sorel in The Consul, a role she performed under his direction for five years in numerous opera houses in the United States, at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, the Teresa Carreno Opera in Caracas, Venezuela, and on television with the Melbourne Opera in Australia.

The Barcelona La Vanguardi described her singing in the title role of Salome as "beautiful emission, beautiful phrasing" for the Gran Teatre Del Liceu, a role she later performed for The Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, and for the Radio Television Orchestra Espanola in Madrid. She sang the title role of Turandot at the Kansas City Opera and for the Vlaamse Opera's televised production in Antwerp, Belgium; and, having debuted as Leonora in Fidelio with the Seattle Opera, she repeated the role in Osnabruech, Germany, in concert at Carnegie Hall, and in Buffalo, New York.

Dedicated to helping young singers develop their talents, in 2005 she was selected as one of the "Twelve Outstanding Women in Longview, Washington" by the American Association of University Women for raising the standards of vocal performance in singers in her community.